A total of 368 short films from 64 countries will screen in the Competition sections and special programs of the 33rd Filmfest Dresden set to take place July 13 to 18, 2021 in Dresden, Germany.
One focal area of this year’s Filmfest Dresden is on the subject of activism in the context of an artistic or filmic approach. A range of films and series are seeking to find a balance in the relationship between politics and cinematography, such as in the three programs from the Move To Change! Focus Activism series. In the context of a workshop discussion, the Berlin installation, video and performance artist Mischa Leinkauf is providing insights into his oeuvre and speaking about the relationship between film art and political actions, as indeed about the scope for action achievable with art. In addition, Mischa Leinkauf is a jury member in the National Competition. In the Anton Ginzburg: Displacements program, the New York artist and filmmaker Anton Ginzburg is presenting a selection of films that pursue geographic and historic transformations, such as Constructivist Drift (2016). Ginzburg is a 2021 Artist in Residence at the Schaufler Lab@TU Dresden, a project from the TU University Dresden and The Schaufler Foundation.
The second and final part of the Poetical. Political. Subversive. Female Directors In The DEFA Studios And Independent Film In The GDR retrospective that began at the 32 Filmfest Dresden is focusing on the differing designs for life and the future that female directors from East Germany sought in their films. The range being screened in the two “Visions” and “The Sounds of the Revolution” programs includes rarely shown propaganda films, as well as experimental underground cinematic works. In Music Alone Shall Live (1963), Katja Georgi avails of several animation techniques to create a satire about the apparently unpolitical. And in Tango Dream (1985), Helke Misselwitz explores the tense relationship between poetry and politics, one that merges together in tango.
With Animated: Homage To Sieglinde Hamacher, Filmfest Dresden is recollecting Sieglinde Hamacher, the animation film artist and close associate of the festival who died in 2020. The adventurous filmic parables made during her creative period at the DEFA Studios regularly caused resentment among the East German authorities due to their critical messages laced with black humor. Filmfest Dresden is screening several films, including The Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing (1983).
Watch the official trailer for 2021 Filmfest Dresden.